By Cheryl Jahn

Glacial melt could cause flooding

Jun 29, 2021 | 3:55 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – With scorching temperatures well into the high 30’s for the region, Environment and Climate Change Canada issued a heat warning with an unusual addition. It warns about rising water levels due to glacial melting.

“We’re seeing tremendous heat, tremendously warm temperatures. And so the snow line’s close to the toes of these glaciers, the lower parts of the glaciers. So that probably why Environment and Climate Change Canada put that in as part of the advisory,” says Brian Menounos, a glacier expert with UNBC. “If you get close to those high alpine sites, you are going to get these small creeks that can be flowing quite sufficiently.’

Menounos has done glacier research at seven different sites around the province for years. he notes which of those sites could impact the Fraser River.

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“So in Prince George, we are of course in the confluence of the Nechako and the Fraser Rivers. And, so, specifically, if we go into the headwaters of the Fraser Basin, we start to get into the Cariboo Mountains. A lot of those small ice bodies will feed the upper part of the Fraser River.”

And because of glacier melt, the River Forecast Centre has upgraded to a flood warning for the Upper Fraser River, including the Robson Valley and areas from Sinclair Mills upstream to Torpy, Dome Creek, the Dore River and McBride.

And we’re losing our glaciers at a remarkable pace. At the lower parts, glaciers are disappearing at a pace of ten to 15 metres per year.